Azernews.Az

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recommended that the Azerbaijani government prepares for potentially adverse conditions in the global economy which may cause a decline in global demand for commodities and in oil prices, the director of the IMF Middle East and Central Asia Department Masood Ahmed said at a press conference in Baku on Thursday.

The IMF recommends the strengthening of provisions for pursuing an economic policy and prudent approach to domestic expenditure financed through oil revenues.

These issues were discussed at meetings of the IMF representative with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister Artur Rasizade, Finance Minister Samir Sharifov and Deputy Chairmen of the Azerbaijani Central Bank Khagani Abdullayev and Aftandil Babayev.

The state of the global and regional economies as well as prospects for the Azerbaijani economy was considered during the meetings.

"I have noted the low and uneven pace of the global economic recovery in the presence of risks that could adversely affect the economies of emerging markets and developing countries. In this context, Azerbaijan coped well with the crisis in 2009, as the state policy to preserve a significant proportion of revenues during the boom of oil prices in a transparent manner made it possible to use part of the savings to mitigate the consequences of the crisis. Currently the country, as well as other oil-exporting countries, is favored by high oil prices," Ahmed said.

According to him, the parties agreed on the potential of Azerbaijan's transformation to become a country with a dynamic and diversified economy, emerging market and the opportunities provided by oil wealth for acceleration of the transition to this status.

"In this regard, during the discussion of policy issues, we have focused on current challenges facing the country on reducing the dependence on oil and promotion of a competitive non-oil sector development, enabling the creation of jobs and support of broad-based growth."

"I have stressed that sustained efforts directed towards consolidation of strong economic institutions, human capital development, production infrastructure, promoting management reforms, business conditions and the financial sector are required to face these challenges," Ahmed said.